Conventionally pasta is made by mixing wheat flour or durum semolina and water. The product shape is formed by extrusion of the mixture through a die and the product is then dried under controlled temperature and humidity. Typically drying has been for six or more hours at temperatures of up to 75.degree. C. and relative humidities up to 85%. This slow drying has been necessary to prevent cracking and checking in the product. Such products may be rehydrated by cooking in boiling water for any time from about ten minutes to twenty minutes. Prior to this cooking, that is prior to when the product is prepared for eating, the protein and starch of the product remain essentially in their natural states and no denaturation of the protein or gelatinization of the starch occurs until it is cooked. When conventional pasta (e.g., spaghetti) is cooked it is often thought desirable to cook it to a texture or state, usually referred to as "cooked to al dente", at which it is not soft but instead presents some resistence to the teeth to give it a degree of chewiness. When cooked to this "al dente" texture, the pasta product throughout much of its body or bulk exhibits mainly denatured protein and gelatinized starch, but in a central core or zone a substantial amount of denaturized protein and ungelatinized starch remains.
There have been various proposals for making a quick-cooking product but these proposals have not been entirely satisfactory for various reasons. It has been proposed, for example, to form the products of the spaghetti and macaroni types with thin-walled tubular sections instead of the relatively thick-walled sections found in products made by conventional practice, the theory being that the thinner the walls of the tubular sections, the quicker and more thoroughly they will cook. It has been found in practice, however, that the thin walls have a strong tendency to collapse when boiled in water in accordance with usual cooking methods. When the walls collapse during cooking, not only does the food present a somewhat non-appetizing mass but collapse of the walls hinders the contact of the cooking medium juices, seasoning, etc. with the interior walls. It is highly desirable, therefore, that collapse of the tubular walls be prevented. Merely making the walls thin is thus not a practical solution to the problem of making the products quick-cooking. It has also been proposed to incorporate strengthening materials in the product during its manufacture to prevent the sagging and collapsing of the thin side walls. The strengthening materials which have been proposed are, however, relatively expensive and materially increase the cost of manufacture. Since spaghetti, macaroni and the like are widely used as a low-cost food of high nutritive value, an expedient which takes this food out of the low-cost category is obviously not desirable.
There remains a need in the art to prepare a thin-wall pasta product in the uncooked state which can be rapidly prepared with hot water or sauce to produce a finished pasta possessing an "al dente" texture.